


All's Fair in Love and Chocolate

by emynn (orphan_account)



Series: Love and (Cupcake) War [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Hot Chocolate, Insecurity, Love, M/M, flangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/emynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes hot chocolate isn't just hot chocolate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All's Fair in Love and Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow up to [Love and (Cupcake) War](http://archiveofourown.org/works/519387) and [The Icing on the Cake](http://archiveofourown.org/works/519391), but it can also be read on its own so long as you can accept that Severus and Harry run a cupcake shop together. Written for 's Prompt 14: [hot chocolate](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/1Alisanne1/Pirouline-Hot-Chocolate-Cocktail_zps1bb749d7.jpg).

“One last item on the staff meeting agenda,” Harry said. “Then I promise you we can all go home.”

Harry looked around the room, his chest swelling with pride. It had been seven years since he’d first opened The Cupcakery. Seven years of sweat and tears, building this place from the ground up. 

His eyes landed on Severus.

_Sweat, tears, and love,_ he corrected himself. 

Yes, he hadn’t done too badly for himself. What once had been a two-person shop with just himself and his friend Margot had flourished into a highly successful venture with a staff of thirty people. 

And of course, a new partner, both in business and in life. Unable to help himself, Harry smiled at Severus, a small, discreet smile that he reserved solely for his lover.

Severus noticed, of course, and his cheeks flushed ever so slightly.

Margot also noticed. Her response was slightly less generous.

“Look, we all know you want us to go home so you can slather honey on your pricks and shag each other silly,” Margot said, rolling her eyes. “So why don’t you stop making cow eyes at each other and tell us the last item?”

Harry cleared his throat. “Right. All I wanted to say was that since it’s now officially winter, we thought it was time we starting selling some hot beverages other than coffee and tea. Come Monday, we’ll also be serving hot chocolate. I have the recipe printed here,” he said, lifting a stack of papers and holding them up for everybody to see. “You should treat this as just as important a recipe as any of our cupcake recipes. It’s rich, flavourful, and could practically be a dessert on its own. I expect you to have this memorised for Monday.”

“Well, it looks simple enough,” said Lorna, a baking assistant who had started in the summer. “Cocoa, sugar, vanilla… nothing too unusual.”

“Vanilla – there’s no vanilla,” Harry said. He snatched back one of the recipes and quickly read it over. Then he looked back at Severus, this time with a slightly less loving expression. “Severus, may I have a word?”

Not looking remotely concerned, Severus followed Harry into the backroom. “Yes?”

“You changed the recipe on me!” Harry exclaimed, thrusting it in his face. 

“Harry, this is a recipe for the perfect hot chocolate,” Severus said. “It’s creamy, frothy, and delicious. Not to mention that since it has none of those extraneous garnishes, it’s significantly more cost-efficient to produce.”

“Extraneous garnishes? Severus, this hot chocolate looks beautiful! I make it for you all the time, and you always say so.”

“Yes, it is beautiful, and tastes delicious as well,” Severus said. “But Harry, marshmallows, hot chocolate, whipped cream, _and_ a Pirouline in each hot chocolate? Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“I think it sends a message that The Cupcakery only serves the best,” Harry said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“But we _do_ serve only the best,” Severus said. “Our food stands on its own, even without all the extra flourishes. If we can sell an incredible product that is simple, how does that not send even _more_ of a message that we serve only the best? It is an exquisite treat, even without all the spectacle.”

“Um, hello?” Margot opened the door slightly and peeked her head in. “The folks out here were wondering if we could go home.”

“No,” Harry said, scowling at Severus. He wiped his hands on his trousers. “We’re going to have a cocoa war. Severus and I will each be serving a recipe, and the staff will judge which is better. The winner will be sold at The Cupcakery.”

“Ooo-kay, then,” Margot said, raising her eyebrows. “I’ll just tell them it’ll be a few more minutes.” She quickly ducked out of the room.

“Harry, is this really necessary?” Severus asked. 

“Yes,” Harry said. “And before you say anything, this isn’t a stupid pride thing. It’s just that I can’t believe you went behind my back and swapped out the recipe. I never would have done that to you.”

He turned on his heel to head out the door, but couldn’t quite bring himself to open it. He knew his face would be flushed, and not with passion and recently sated lust, as his employees likely expected. No, this was decidedly less enjoyable. While in the grand scheme of things he knew this wasn’t an issue that would be big enough to tear him and Severus apart, Severus’ actions still stung. Severus had never questioned Harry’s recipes or business sense before, which made it all the more confusing. 

“Harry,” Severus said softly.

Harry turned around, and all the fire immediately went out of him. Severus’ shoulders were hunched and he was nearly shrinking in on himself, misery etched in every line of his face. Harry quickly hurried towards him and took his hands. Even after three years together, Severus was still prone to occasional bouts of horrid insecurity, and it pained Harry to see them. 

“Hey,” he said quietly, brushing Severus’ hair back. “I’m not about to leave you over some hot chocolate. I just don’t understand why you did it. I know you love that recipe.”

“That’s exactly it,” Severus said. 

Harry quirked an eyebrow. “Sorry? I don’t follow.”

“Harry, you and I spend our days baking, sharing our talents with the rest of the world. It is certainly not how I ever envisioned spending my life, but somehow, it works. Especially with such a… special partner.”

Harry smiled slightly. “But?”

“When you bake, Harry, you bake with your heart and your soul. You bake with what feels right.”

Harry snorted. He still remembered Severus’ horrified reaction when he learned Harry operated under the “a pinch of this, a dash of that, let’s improvise!” method, a sharp contrast to Severus’ own methodical, scientific approach. “Yeah,” he said. “And you do too, in your own way. We balance each other out.”

Severus shook his head. “That’s not the issue.”

“Then what is?” Harry asked. “I’m trying to understand why you’re upset.”

“We share everything with the world,” Severus said. “All of our secret recipes, all of the nights we spent together perfecting them, all of those trips to the market to find the perfect ingredients… we create, and they consume.”

Harry nodded slowly. “That is the standard business model, yes.”

“But what do we keep for ourselves?” Severus asked. “Our best creations we immediately mark with a price tag and put out on a shelf. But we have none that stay at home.”

“I never thought about it like that,” Harry said. “I didn’t realise it was bothering you.”

“Ordinarily, it doesn’t,” Severus said. “But when you make that hot chocolate… I know that you’ve made it only for me. I was there the first time you created it. I was by your side as you decided it needed more sugar, less cocoa, and a Pirouline to top it off. And every time you make it for me, which you always do without my even having to ask, on cold nights when I need it the most, it feels…”

“Intimate,” Harry whispered. “Like love.”

Severus nodded. “It’s sentimental rubbish, I know,” he said. “You created a sensational recipe and deserves to be shared with the world. But I don’t want to.” He shrugged. “I always was a selfish bastard.”

“Oh, no,” Harry said quickly, pulling Severus close to him. “No, Severus, I think that’s beautiful. And you’re completely right. That recipe is just for us.”

“Thank you,” Severus said.

“Of course,” Harry said. “Though next time, just tell me.” He smiled. “And in fact, I was just thinking I’d like to try out a spicy chocolate cupcake. Perhaps we could keep that one just between the two of us as well.”

Severus caressed the side of Harry’s face. “I’d like that,” he said, his voice soft.

“I’d like that, too,” Harry said, and leaned in to kiss him.

As always after one of their tiffs, Severus and Harry were unable to keep their make up kisses to sweet, reassuring pecks. No, they had to nearly melt into each other, passionately kissing and touching any part of each other they could reach, desperate for a reminder that this was real, that this was love, _real_ love, and neither of them was going anywhere. Harry groaned as he felt himself being pressed up against a wall. Severus began to work at his buttons, all while his mouth roamed down Harry’s chest.

“Listen, it’s getting late and – oh.” Margot, peeking in through the door once more, smirked. “I had a feeling. Well, don’t let me interrupt. Carry on.” She pointed up towards a shelf in the far left corner. “Honey’s back over there. Just got some in fresh this morning.”

“Margot, wait!” Harry forced himself to say. Severus cast him an irritated glare, but he ignored him. _For now._ “Make sure everybody knows to memorise that recipe for Monday. There will be a test.”

Margot grinned. “Right. Enjoy yourselves!”

With Margot gone, Harry turned back to Severus. “Now, what do you say we have some time alone? Just the two of us?” He paused. “Perhaps with some honey?”

A languid smile, one Harry had come to immediately equate with fantastic, smouldering sex, spread across Severus’ face. “Oh, yes.”

_Oh, yes,_ Harry thought, and leaned in to kiss Severus once more.


End file.
